Planet of Outlaws
by Verthril
Summary: "Ain't no thing like me, except me..." Then Starlord came along and called him a raccoon. It didn't translate, no one else in the galaxy he'd met had heard of a raccoon, no one except Peter Quill. So, being the proud being he was, Rocket went to find out just what the hell a raccoon was.
1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Bad raccoon! Put down the...really big fricking gun..."

First of all, he knew it had to be a kid. They were pretty much universal in how they looked, cute but kinda annoying all the same. Too old to need their diaper changed even if they still whined like they had just shit their pants. The problem was this kid had Groot, his Groot, and like only he knew..._I am Groot_ also meant _Friend_.

"Make me." Rocket urged, flicking off the safety figuring that if the kid knew anything about guns then she'd know he was serious.

Well, as far as Rocket figured out, that just might have been Human for '_Kick me in the twig and cherries please_', because she sure as hell tried. One second she was pointing a chastising finger at him, the next...pop. They weren't the pretty lights Groot could do, no, these ones hurt. Wondering just which half of the Starlord himself was Human could wait because currently he had some whiskers to put out.

"Eee...shit! I just set a raccoon on fire! Fire extinguisher, fire extinguisher, where's the...oh!"

Apparently the kid wasn't so far removed from whatever evolutionary tree Pete fell out of as not to go and do something completely reckless and stupid, which was to put out him...the one and only Rocket, and just maybe he was a raccoon in some distant ancestry. As far as fire suppression went she might just as well have thrown a bucket of water at him. The problem was she hadn't, so he was currently all kinds of pissed off and covered in foam, which...actually gave him an idea.

Terra was about as loose as a hacked protocol droid, but they had this thing called Wikipedia which was helpful with understanding Starlord. Actually the Youtube thing helped a lot more when it came to understanding Pete...but as for Humans in general Wikipedia was pretty solid.

"I got Rabies!"

Kid froze, stopped, and jerked back like he'd just bit her. If he was a raccoon, not that he was saying he was, but just...if...then maybe it wasn't as bad as some folks made it sound like. Everything he'd read up on them painted them as smart, devious little bastards. Completely opportunistic and they seemed like something you pissed off at your own peril. All his best qualities in a nutshell.

That wasn't to say Humans weren't kind of weird when it came to the signals they gave off, she was red in face and looked like he had just tried to get fresh with her. So far as he could figure, that meant she was either on her way to becoming an adult or...

"Paf!"

...turning out to be a cute and cuddly version of Drax with all the pain and half the literalism. _Paf_ didn't translate, but he kinda figured it meant '_you bad/you go away/you hurt now_'.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Rocket yelled, snatching at her comically simple fire suppression device to put out the fresh flames that danced across his fur.

Apparently Humans came with an off switch, because the kid's eyes rolled back in her head and she was out cold. Smacking paw to face, any chances of interrogating her to find out where Groot was would have to wait until she woke up. Scratching his ear and looking around the docking bay or whatever the hell it was, he figured he'd start without her when a twitch and flick of his ear had him hearing something familiar, music.

"Ooga Chaka, Ooga Ooga, Ooga Chaka, Ooga Ooga..."

Grinning full of fangs, he knew that music just as sure as Groot did. The only problem was Groot liked kids, so that pretty much meant he'd like this kid. Looking down at her slumped form, she was kind of cute now that she wasn't trying to set him on fire.

"Where's Drax when I need him haul something heavy?"

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_Twenty Four Hours Earlier..._

"Hey! I'm walking here!"

Kicking the bumper of the car, Rocket dared the Human to even think about accelerating, smirking as the driver instead decided to back down after making all that noise what with the screeching and the awful honking. Planet of Outlaws his furry ass.

"I still can't tell if I love this rock or hate it."

Usually Groot would have had something insightful to say right about then. Even his smiling face conveyed almost as much as everything he had so beautifully articulated throughout their friendship. The only problem was that Groot was missing...and he felt more alone than ever.

"Ain't no thing like me, except me..."

Or Groot. Groot was one of a kind just like him, and no one had ever seen another like them so they got writ off as something less than they were. Then Starlord came along and called him a raccoon. It didn't translate, no one else in the galaxy he'd met had heard of a raccoon, no one except Peter Quill. So, being the proud being he was, he went to find out just what the hell a raccoon was.

Whatever the lady at the flower shop had written on the piece of paper matched up with the sign for the shop, and one constant throughout the galaxy was proven as he looked at it. Tourist traps all looked the same. Except this tourist trap had Groot, or at least the lady had sold Groot to the guy that ran it. Having once been in the bounty hunting business, maybe the trading of beings for cold hard currency wasn't exactly something he was squeamish about, except when the being in question was Groot.

"All this because I figured he could use a new pot because the old one was looking kinda small..." Rocket muttered, his moment of consideration for his friend the gift that just kept giving.

The door was open just like the sign advertised. Flipping it over, the shop was officially closed for business until he was done and any Human who couldn't read would be in for a nasty surprise.

"How can I help...oh, it's just a raccoon. At least it's not a rat this time. Shoo, get!"

Grinning up at the Human, he gave the man a minute to realize he wasn't just some raccoon. Everywhere he went on this rock people either ignored him or couldn't stop gawking.

"Where's Groot?"

"Did a raccoon just...?"

"Oh yeah, I just talked."

It was a good day to be armed for a breakout because the way he saw it, this rock was his and all the Humans were just living on it.

"Just tell me what's a Groot and I'll tell you if I've seen a Groot!"

"Well, he's kind of like one of those, except he's Groot."

It was a shitty imitation made out of some cheap polymer crap called plastic, but it was a potted plant that merrily bobbed about, simple enough that even the primitive could understand. Sure enough the man's eyes lit up, eagerly crawling to him to beg for his life.

"I sold one! Hours ago I sold a Groot! I'm sorry! But, but, but I can pull some video from the DVR so you can see who I sold it to!"

"Show me."

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_Thirty Minutes Earlier..._

Sticky could dance, Jubilee saw him dance back at the store. He looked kind of sad and lonely when she first saw him sitting there in his little flower pot along with some bouquets of roses that looked just as wilted and weary as he did. Then he started dancing and she was sold. She spent all her allowance and everything she had made from extra chores on Sticky, and now Sticky was sad again and wouldn't dance.

"Thirsty?" Jubilee asked, watering his little pot with some Evian she had snagged from the fridge.

He looked a little less wilted but no less sad. Thinking back to the what had been going on when he had danced so merrily, music had been playing but she couldn't remember what. It was just something in the background as she browsed around the neat little shop in NYC.

Rolling out of her bed and running over to her desk, she snagged her tablet and loaded up her 8tracks app for some music. Ten minutes into one of her favourite playlists still had Sticky looking sad. Shuffling through her eclectic tastes for another ten minutes had her getting bored and feeling a bit gloomy.

The house was too quiet, Jean and Scott were off on a date and she was definitely old enough that she didn't need a babysitter (even if Scott had tried to haggled with Jean to hire one just to keep her out of trouble). It was way too quiet without Logan around. Looking to his battered old cowboy hat he'd left behind for her along with his letter, she took it as a keepsake and a promise that he'd be back for it. She was just keeping it safe, it was his favourite hat after all, so of course he'd come back for it...

"Country?" Jubilee asked of Sticky, looking for something suitably depressing for the both of them.

One song in and now Sticky was looking extra sad and somehow she thought it was all for her. Offering him a lopsided smile as she looked into his concerned little eyes, she leaned in and gave him a little kiss to the cheek.

"Who's awesome? You're awesome. So lets find you something awesome to listen to."

Typing up that word alone, Awesome Mix Vol. 1 was the first hit and looked promising. Queueing up and suffering through an ad, a distant bang in the otherwise empty house had her on her feet and listening at her door.

"You stay here Sticky, I'm gonna check it out..."

Jean and Scott were nice people, way nicer than any other foster family she'd ever had. Maybe that was why Logan had left her with them, of course that wasn't to say she wasn't going to give him all kind of shit when he finally came back for his hat.

"Jean?"

Jean and Scott were also like her and Logan, they could do stuff ordinary humans couldn't. They were mutants, and since Jean was a telepath that meant it probably wasn't her who had made that loud bang, mostly because Jean would have already told her to go back to bed like all the times she'd been up for a midnight snack of the ice cream variety.

"Scott?"

Balling her fists, she walked through the empty house that felt a bit less welcoming than it had for the past few months. It was a nice brownstone in an affluent neighbourhood in Manhattan, the Summers just as affluent what with Jean being a Doctor and Scott a pilot. Pausing at the door to the garage, something stunk. Opening it a crack, she saw a face that usually she thought was cute but not so much tonight , a raccoon.

Except this one had somehow gotten into the Summer's garage where Scott kept the first love of his life, or so Jean teased Scott about his Harley. The very same Harley she'd just detailed yesterday to make some money that she had just spent on Sticky. Jubilee wasn't about to let some raccoon go getting it dirty with his grubby little paws.

"Drop the refuse and put your hands where I can see them!"

Starting strong after kicking open the door hoping to scare off the furry little intruder, something about this raccoon stuck out. He looked way too smug standing there thinking he was people, he looked as if he was waiting for her put together a punch line except that he'd be the one laughing. Pointing a scolding finger at him, she was a little less sure of herself as she tried again, because there was no way this raccoon was armed, that was crazy talk even from a mutant like herself.

"Bad raccoon! Put down the...really big fricking gun..."

"Make me."

Everything after that moment was Paf, panic, and fire. All up until the walking talking and heavily armed raccoon took the fire extinguisher away and proved she wasn't dreaming. The darkness behind her eyes wasn't so bad after that, and with how quiet everything was she heard some music playing, her last conscious thought a simple one, hoping that Sticky liked it.

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	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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The shower had done him good, whatever the hell they used to put out fires on this rock it sure as heck stunk, not to mention his fur had been a mess. Enjoying a long, shivering shake, he felt ready to get back on with his rescue mission, or at least just as soon as his flight suit was finished with its delicate cycle. Pulling out a couple of drawers at the vanity, a few careful steps and hops had him up with his mug staring back at him in the mirror.

"Ah, they'll grow back quick enough." Rocket muttered to himself in regards to his singed whiskers, though usually he only had himself to blame what with his interests and hobbies.

Kid had been lighter than she looked, and thankfully enough she hadn't woken up once as he dragged her on up for a nap. Her room was easy to pick out, it was the one with Groot. Credit where it was due, the kid had been taking care of him, keeping him watered and even finding some tunes for him to enjoy. Happy to see Groot as he was him, he'd tucked the kid in albeit down on the floor before seeing to getting cleaned up.

"What the hell's Listerine?"

A sniff had his eyes watering even as he sneezed, but if there was one thing he had learned from the plethora of seedy watering holes he'd hit up between jail breaks, usually the worse it smelt the more kick it packed. Slugging back a belt and swishing it around for consideration, it tasted like gut rot and candy as he swallowed.

"What the fuck!?" The kid asked immediately after throwing open the bathroom door.

Too busy as he was scavenging after his shower, it turned out the kid must have been a light sleeper, or at least the evidence pointed in that direction what with her standing frozen in shock at the threshold. Just as he caught her eyes in the mirror though she slammed the door shut, the last he saw her being a face flushed and lips drawn into a nervous, twitchy line.

"You're real?!" Kid shrieked from out in the hall.

"I'm real!" Rocket shouted back, snatching a towel just nearly right his size from beside the sink and wrapping it about his waist.

The door opened a crack and out in the dark of the hall he saw Kid peeking in with her face lit by her glowing fist. A sidelong look saw his current blaster leaning up in the corner of the bath, just a quick tumble away and set to stun if Kid needed a less than voluntary nap. Trying to prove he wasn't looking for a fight, he assumed the familiar position with his hands up for the authorities, spinning around to show he wasn't armed...a moot point what with her catching him with his pants down.

But by the time his dog and pony show was over with though she had a different look in her eyes, one that painted her less likely to blast him, looking a lot more curious and...strangely pained. Her features turned dark as her pallor turned sickly with the lights sparkling around her fist dying. Hissing out of irritation and thinking he could use another belt of Listerine, she must have gotten an eyeful of the hardware that made a mess of his back.

"There's a hair dryer in the bottom drawer..." Kid whispered as she drew the door closed between them.

Scratching at a bit of stubborn water in his ear and listening to the quiet steps that lead off down the hall, no doubt for the second time tonight Groot was going to be asking what he did to the Kid, and just like the last time he hadn't done a thing other than be the being he was. Scampering back up to the counter for another swig, as he enjoyed the burn he got to reading the back of it.

"What d'ya mean ya ain't supposed to drink it? Shoddy frelling translation mod..."

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Leave it to a walking, talking raccoon to make himself at home. It was supposed to be a dream, one fuelled by a dinner of Sugar Bombs and the kind of movies Jean and Scott wouldn't let her watch...the kind she and Logan watched from hotel to motel back when they'd been living a life on the road. Sitting cross-legged on her bed with Sticky nestled upon her lap, Jubilee waited.

The problem was the house was too quiet even with the music playing that Sticky loved, he'd been dancing when she woke up and that had been magic to see. He wasn't dancing so much right then, he was staring up at her with the kind of deep soulful eyes reserved for dogs, wordlessly begging to know what was wrong and how to make things right. Clenching her own eyes tight against her tears, visions of her furry intruder wouldn't leave her alone.

"He's Groot."

Startled and feeling foolish for it, Jubilee wondered just how long he'd been standing there, Mister Raccoon and his really big fricking gun...that was thankfully nowhere in sight.

"What?" Asking after his question, she wondered what a Groot was.

"Not what, who, and you're holding him."

Sparing a glance down at Sticky, he was smiling up at her in a way that had to be his way of saying _Hi_. Groot did sound a lot better than her placeholder, and it explained what the raccoon was doing in the garage earlier, at least if she read between the lines.

"What's your name?" Jubilee asked, watching him wander into her room completely uninvited in just a handtowel.

"Rocket. "

"Jubilee." He hadn't asked, but it helped to fill the quiet to tell him.

She had more questions on the tip of her tongue, like how could a raccoon talk and walk like he was people, and just what Groot was. Rocket looked like he had some questions too, but he wasn't asking as much as looking at all her photos and postcards from her time together with Logan. He was paying a lot of attention to the map Jean bought her, full of push tacks and string, each one a story wrestled out one lonely night to the next, Jean was devious like that. The stories helped as much as they hurt, stuck with the Summers just waiting for Logan to come back.

"What was Groot doing in some tourist trap?" Jubilee asked, needing something, anything to think of other than Logan.

"Some broad up and sold him on me while I was checking out new pots for him, and that's a mistake no one is gonna be making again anytime soon."

"Are you an alien?" The question tumbled out too fast for her to even consider it.

"Do I look like an alien?" Rocket asked, turning his gaze on her as she sat there with Groot.

"...you look like a raccoon." Her mumbled reply had her feeling foolish, wondering if some aliens had gotten bored of cows and moved onto something a little less...weird.

It would explain his back, but she didn't need much help to imagine just the kind of things that must have been done to him to make him like that. Like Jean, she could be devious when she wanted, and she could guilt Logan into talking when he got a bit too chatty in his sleep...or when he got to screaming and thrashing and needing a stiff drink and a cold shower when she finally woke him up.

And just like Logan, Rocket had that look of a man...racoon...that didn't like being reminded of it, didn't like being looked on with pity. So she looked to Groot and lost herself in those not quite puppy dog eyes of his and wished she could hug him like one, because she sure could use a hug. The sound of the washer chiming off on a finished cycle was just unexpected enough to draw away her thoughts from all the depressing feelings she'd been running away from since California.

"You're doing laundry?!" Jubilee asked, her voice a mix of surprise and disbelief.

"Hey, you're the one that doused me with whatever that crap was."

Feeling embarrassed as she was at the reminder of both setting him on fire and then putting him out, she couldn't feel so mad over him breaking on in what with knowing he'd been rescuing Groot. That was something friends did.

"You hungry?" She was feeling a little hungry herself, her Pafs tended to do that.

"Starving." Rocket answered with a show of feral fangs.

"K, go get your clothes drying and I'll go whip something up."

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"What did you call this stuff again?"

"Chili." Kid answered, Jubilee was a name he'd have to get used to.

"You made this?" Rocket asked before wolfing down another hefty spoonful, whatever this Chili was he was gonna need some for the road...not to mention a recipe so he could try and find a few analogs of the ingredients around the galaxy.

"Does heating it up count?" Kid, Jubilee asked with an empty can for show.

"It comes in a can?" Cans were universal, why waste perfectly good gigawatts on a matter replicator when they could be used for cannons or thrusters.

Jubilee looked thoughtful, the kind of thoughtful when they were trying to think of something that hadn't been put in a can. Rocket had seen a good number of systems and their jails included, the more civilized ones he'd 'visited' tended to be the kind that had everything you needed at one surplus or another. It made things easy when you needed to get out of system fast.

"Uh yeah, and like...I'm pretty sure we even got underwear that comes in a can..."

"I love this rock!" Hooting and enjoying another spoonful of chili, he was going to have to get some of that Evian stuff too that the kid was giving Groot, because Groot sure looked to like it.

The now familiar ding of his laundry rang from somewhere down the hall, and even before he could think to go after it the kid was gone in a shot. She was probably getting a bit sick of worrying about his towel falling down, he couldn't blame her, it was getting a little drafty. Catching Groot looking at him, Rocket rolled his eyes back at his friend who didn't even need to say anything to say something.

"Okay, okay, I'll try and make it up to the kid." Rocket muttered under his breath.

Between the kid, Jubilee, being out whatever she paid for Groot, he kinda felt like he owed her for taking care of his best bud in the whole galaxy. As far as the garage incident went, he figured they were even what with him getting the short end of that stick. A slam and hurried feet had Kid back with his flight suit looking fresh and clean.

"Alright, put some pants on. I'll give ya five, I forgot my phone back up in my room. Scott will have my ass if I miss him texting that they're coming home late." Jubilee announced, tossing the flight suit down on a chair.

It wasn't like he had to be told twice, as soon as she was nothing more than feet vanishing up the stairs he got to getting dressed. There was something to be said for clothes nice and toasty from that dryer of theirs. Usually he just hung his up in the engine room and let them dry by the exhaust heat...which usually left them a little on the stiff side.

"Hey kid, ya can come down now! How long does it take for her to find her phone, whatever that is..."

He didn't like that she wasn't answering, this kid hadn't been one not to speak her mind as far as he had seen. Groot looked to be getting worried too and that was all it took for Rocket to get his ass in gear. All bets were off as he got to the stairs and heard kid screaming, by the time he found her in her room she was curled up on the floor clutching her head.

"Kid, kid? Jubilee!" Rocket shouted, dashing in on all fours.

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Jubilee knew the restaurant from a visit with the Summers to celebrate a promotion that Jean had earned at the hospital. It was a reminder of her old life, a restaurant that boasted its accolades in Michelin stars and the celebrities and socialites who dined there. It was a place for quiet conversation and reserve, for deals made at the bar over cocktails and a handshake. And like her old life, all at once the glitter and glamour became ash and ruin.

"Scott!" Jean's voice rose above the screaming and panic.

Turning through the smoke, Jubilee looked for the woman who had opened her heart to her, who had listened to all the stories of Wolvie she had to tell and even shared a few of her own. The lady doctor knelt against the debris strew across the once pristine floors, the flare of her power visible and manifest by the way dust rain down an unseen barrier. With her several patrons trapped under rubble lay, struck dumb by the disaster that had fallen on their evening.

"Jean!" Jubilee cried, her own panic clutching her heart as the lady doctor spared her a glance.

"Run Jubilee, run and find Logan!" Jean gasped, her breath coming hard and fast as she struggled with her burden.

Looking on that very burden, part of the roof had caved in and were Jean not the woman she was then those trapped beneath it surely would have been crushed. Looking for Scott out of the smoke that rose from numerous fires, in the distance the call of sirens could be heard promising help if only they would reach in time. A flash of red cut through the dismal scene and she saw him unleash his cursed vision on an attacker who charged at him in a ridiculous armour that looked like it should belong in some television show instead of one of Manhattan's top restaurants.

Spotting another rising from where he had lain prone, Jubilee saw that Scott didn't see this latest attacker and found her resolve to even the odds. Holding her fists out and letting her emotions get the better of her, the Pafs didn't come as she called, trying again and again until the awful moment that Scott was laid low with a blow to the back of his head.

"Jean? Jean!?" Jubilee shrieked, growing more frantic as she saw the others surround the lady doctor.

"Run Jubilee, they could be coming for our home next! Run!" Jean ground out through clenched teeth, her eyes flaring with her own anger and finding strength in it.

The rubble and ruin that had been her burden was unleashed on those that surrounded her, and rising in challenge to face her attackers Jean looked to burn with seething rage. The fight became a fog of screaming that stirred things within Jubilee as she watched it grow distant, felt the darkness take Jean as it surly had taken Scott. Alone in that darkness knowing people she cared about her had been taken again, Jubilee felt her eyes grow damp as the world shifted and a new voice called her.

"Kid, kid? Jubilee!"

It was a voice rugged and rough, harsh without being unkind or uncaring. It sounded like a voice she knew and that only made her chest ache all the more knowing he wasn't there to keep her safe.

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The lights were on but no one was home, her eyes stared sightlessly so far past him that she might as well have been looking for her rock's moon. Damn ready to hit up their Wikipedia for some quick info, maybe even try that Google thing, Rocket heard a noise that didn't belong on some backwater planet in the wrong arm of the galaxy.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rocket shouted, forgetting the kid for the moment to chase after his blaster that was making a racket back in the bathroom.

One of the first mods he'd hooked up to it had been a scanner for most frequencies the authorities of the galaxy liked to use, a bit of an early warning system. It wasn't like he was figuring on hearing it much what with earning himself a nice clean slate from the Nova Corps, maybe the usual beep of the local law enforcement, but this...this was bad.

"Shi'ar! What's a Shi'ar carrier doing in this system!?"

Like most beings, he had a few very important rules he lived by, and right up near the top was one about not messing with any race that went around building Galactic Empires. And just like the Kree, the Shi'ar had a few colourful characters like Ronan who any sane being didn't want to meet, not in this life or the next.

"Oh this is not good." Rocket muttered, squelching out the noise to see that there had to be Shi'ar boots suborbital.

Upping the stun setting from a polite suggestion to take a nap right to a firm lights out order, Rocket slung his blaster over his shoulders and ran back to the kid. Looking like she was coming off a hell of a bender on the kind of swill you needed certain organs or enhancements to enjoy, asking her what happened to her could wait with the warning his blaster was screeching in his ear.

"Get down!" Rocket roared, doing something he hated doing, playing a hero like Pete.

The familiar ring of an explosion deafened him, feeling shrapnel and debris rain down on him as he did his damnedest to try and keep the kid safe.

"Where's Drax when I need him!?" Rocket yelled, even if he couldn't hear his own angry shout.

Jubilee didn't need to be told to run if how she was manhandling him was any indication, one second they were laying in the remains of her shattered room, the next she was out in the hall making a dash for the kitchen. Somewhere she picked up a stupid looking hat and a bag that kept battering him as she held him. It had bug out bag written all over it and scored her a few more points in his book.

Groot was tucked away in the bag before he could even ask what the heck was going on, and just as he was wondering himself Rocket saw the answer as they bolted back to where he had met the kid in the first place.

"What the hell are we doing here?!" Rocket barked, hoping the kid didn't think they were safe there.

"Just what Jean said, running." Jubilee whispered, tears rolling down her flushed cheeks as sobs wracked her tiny frame.

Keys he knew, but keys to what Rocket didn't know until a canvas was pulled off of something sitting in the corner of the loading bay...garage as his mod finally translated. Whatever it was, it looked fast and dangerous and his kind of fun. Jubilee hopped on and after cranking the key and giving it a kick to some lever the shiny new toy came to life with a throaty growl.

"Oh I want one. Hey kid, you know that big bit of green you got in the middle of this place?"

"Central park?" Jubilee asked, fiddling with a little remote on the ring of keys until the garage door opened.

"My ship's there, what say we make with the running, I got our backs."

For as scared as she looked, at the mere mention of a ship she looked just that big curious in all the right ways. Grinning at her full of fangs knowing something about that expression did her good, he scrambled up to the back of the bike and hunkered down with the business end of his blaster pointed at anyone who might come after them.

Howling into the night as the kid peeled out in a screeching cry of tires and plume of smoke, he had the only things he needed on this rock right with him. Groot, his blaster, and trouble chasing his furry tail. He didn't have long to live, so he might as well enjoy the time he had, even if that meant pissing off the rank and file of an empire that could give the Kree a run for their credits.

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	3. Chapter 3

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Roaring his frustration, Rocket let his blaster reciprocate just how pissed off he was in the only language the Shi'ar needed to know, high velocity tungsten rounds. The kid was going out of her way to impress him, dodging and weaving through traffic, vehicular or pedestrian alike.

"Hold on!" Jubilee screamed, skidding out for a turn and finding traction just as soon as the Harley finished burning rubber.

The Shi'ar had been chasing her and his furry tail ever since they'd gotten heavy handed back at the kid's house, what they wanted with the kid he didn't know, because one thing he knew as that he had no outstanding warrants with the Shi'ar. Holding onto the kid with one paw and aiming with his free one, Rocket grinned and gave it to the prim tech of this rock, sometimes simple was better. Antigrav could be pushed so hard for only so long, the field had to be kept tight and narrow when it had much too mass around it if it didn't want to shred the scenery.

Flying through the buildings of this backwater rock, whoever was on their tail had real talent at the stick, but physics was physics. Drifting through the narrow opening, the pilot of the small pursuit craft had a lot of things running through their mind, course, thrust, lift, and hardest of them all...trying to guess just wherever the kid was running.

Grinning and hoping they had him in focus, Rocket sub-vocalized a command for his blaster to cycle from the tungsten pellets that packed a punch at the right velocity, switching to the few slugs he had loaded. Leading his shot, he squeezed the trigger on an empty breath and watched magic happen. Shields blackened and without a doubt the onboard AI took over, the ship pulling a stunt no being in their right mind would try, not without knowing they had a good doctor waiting for them back at the carrier.

"Ward of the Scoin of Corsair! Surrender, further resistance is futile!"

Knowing a mod hack when he heard one, namely because he had hacked his share in his short life, Rocket realized he wasn't alone. The proclamation played over every bit of prim tech, from car radio to cellphone for blocks. The Shi'ar sure wanted to get their message across, as every vidscreen...television his translation mod supplied, stood a face he hadn't expected to see that put aside any doubt that they meant that Corsair.

"They're after Scott's dad?!" Jubilee cried above the throaty roar of the Harley, "Why're aliens after Scott's dad?!"

"Who's Scott?" Rocket asked, thinking he heard the name thrown around somewhere before everything had gone frelling wrong.

It was a question that had to wait as a new pursuit craft banked through the intersection ahead and threw standard protocol out the window, proving their threat that resistance was futile wasn't them just preening their feathers. Windows shattered and cars were forced out of the ever expanding antigrav field, tumbling and rolling as flotsam against the unseen swell. Knowing a stun charge by how it made his fur stand on end, Rocket gritted his teeth and let his feral side run wild as the craft steadied for a shot.

Wasting another precious tungsten slug on a storefront, though only if his gamble didn't pay off, he had time enough between the hurried few beats of his heart to get his furry tail, Groot, and the kid to safety. Proving again just how nimble he could be, time tested and true in all the bar fights him and Groot had gotten into, he scampered up front of the Harley and wrestled for control against Jubilee. Screaming the whole way as she lost that fight, Rocket joined her in a worried yelp as the Harley spun out against the shattered glass and debris.

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"Fucking...ow..." Jubilee cried, whimpering and curling against herself as if it would help with the pain.

She knew road rash and cuts as old friends introduced through her hobbies, skateboarding a sport where one wore their badges of honour in blood, scabs and casts. Worse by far than any she had suffered before, Jubilee wished for Jean's gentle touch to take away her pain.

"Get up, get up, get up..." It was a mantra that had kept her safe long before she met Logan, "Get up and run!"

Her world was changing again right before her eyes, she wasn't normal so why should her life be anything but the abnormal? She could do things other people couldn't and that made her a freak of nature, an urban legend hiding in plain sight, a mutant. The world spun as she found her footing, lurching with the floor as it seemingly shifted and slide beneath her shaky feet. Chili for dinner was a regret seen in full HD hindsight. This wasn't supposed to be happening to her, she was supposed to be safe with the Summers...Logan trusted them.

"Surrender!"

Falling to her knees and blaming the crash for her tears, men such as she had seen in an awful dream stood before her pointing what had to be guns, serious men with grim expressions that painted them as soldiers who had no qualms about their orders. Jean had tried to warn her, she had reached out and forcibly shared her memories in one desperate act before the darkness had taken her. Now it was just another useless gesture, the world too big and mean for them to fight against.

Scanning the ruin of wherever she was, Rocket was nowhere to be seen and Scott's bike lay toppled and wrecked, the muffler singing a tinkling song as the sprinklers rained down on it. It was strange to notice only then that she was truly a soaked and a bloody mess, shaking her head against the spray and blinking again to clear her teary eyes.

"Rocket?" Jubilee asked as the men, these soldiers advanced on her, "Rocket?!"

A gentle touch brushed her hand, feeling soothing and promising her to make everything better, but as she looked there it was only a stick, her heart sinking in defeat until she saw the impossible again for the first time. Sobbing aloud and looking past the soldiers that advanced upon her, a laugh found her to shake her chest as she looked into the twisting shadows to see a strangely familiar form take shape, a shadow with dark soulful eyes that met her own.

"Sticky?" Feeling foolish as her voice broke, Jubilee remembered his name and found a smile for him.

"I...am...Groot!"

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"You said it pal." Rocket chuckled from his shadowy perch.

He didn't know if Groot had needed that long to rest up, or just maybe he needed the right motivation to pull himself together, either way it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was back, the kid had been out cold after the crash and it sure as hell wasn't like the Shi'ar were gonna give them five to catch their breath. Thinking it was going to be him against an army, or whatever the Shi'ar called the boots they had on the ground, Rocket had been just as happy to see Groot pulling himself together as the kid obviously was what with how loud she laughed down there as Groot introduced himself.

"That's it, just keep listening to all the screaming playing over your comms..."

Laughing low and thinking again raccoons had a bad rap on this rock, the city was lousy with them and that wasn't a bad thing. Hidden away and taking his time with his shot, he was just another raccoon doing raccoon things as far as the IR scans went. Squeezing the trigger, it didn't matter how powerful the AI running aboard the pursuit craft was, he was too close for it to spend every zettaflop or extra cycle it had to produce an evasive manoeuver that didn't break a few programmed laws about killing the boots on the ground.

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"Holy shit!"

Screaming because that was what people did when the world around them exploded, Jubilee held tight to Groot as he did the running for the both of them. He cradled her tender and careful, feeling of soft pine boughs instead of the stiff wood that hammered the pavement as he ran.

"Rocket? Rocket!" Jubilee shouted, her mind catching up with reality as it had deigned to reveal itself.

"What?!" Rocket barked, sounding hurried and angry.

To see his face peek over Groot's shoulder was enough, looking surly and just a little too much like Logan than was good for her. His irritable snort was heard somewhere beyond her tightly clenched eyes, curling up into the welcoming arms that promised to keep her safe. Police sirens and fire trucks were a distant thunder of the passing storm.

"We gotta save Scott and Jean! Logan, I gotta find him, he'll..." Jubilee cried, stumbling over sputtered words and gulped breaths.

"Unless this Logan's got a ship that can track a Shi'ar Carrier kid then he ain't gonna be much help."

"But...!" Jubilee croaked, her stomach tight and her heart skipping a beat.

She lost her family once, taken in a car accident that had destroyed her world. Logan had filled that hole that all the foster parents and group homes hadn't. A life on the road together as partners and friends all up until one night they had stopped off to visit some old friends of his. He stayed just long enough to know something she hadn't wanted to admit for all the months since that day, that she was tired of the road and wanted a home again. Clenching her eyes tight and wailing at having that home stolen from her again, Jubilee let herself be hugged by Groot just as she had longed to hug him not so very long ago.

"But I just might happen to know a guy who knows a guy, and that guy just might happen to know where we can go finding Corsair to tell him his kid got snatched."

"Really!?" Jubilee blurted out, snapping open her eyes to see Rocket looking strangely awkward.

"I am Groot." Surprised and wondering why Groot was going about introducing himself again, Jubilee looked between her two saviours for answers.

"So what if Pete pulled a fast one on Yondu? You think he actually went and opened it?" Rocket countered, throwing a wary glance behind them as a police car raced past.

"I am Groot." Subdued yet imploring understanding, Groot looked to his friend who simply shrugged in reply.

"Who's Yondu?" Jubilee asked, caught in the middle of the conversation and clearly confused.

"Save it for the ship kid. Ah, what is it with this rock!? Who would have thought Corsair was a Humie?"

"I am Groot."

"I know right, he even left behind a kid that just got snatched?! Hah, wait till Starlord gets a load of this."

Growing more confused as she listened to the odd conversation made up mostly of Rocket, Jubilee let the fatigue numb her against the pain. She didn't know why, whether it was his gruff attitude and rough edges, but she felt like she could trust him to do just what he said. He was friends with Groot after all, and all it took to earn his trust had been that first moment she had stared deeply into those soulful eyes, utterly guileless and looking so lonely. Thinking to rest her eyes, so sore after all the smoke and tears, sleep took her as the world drifted away into the dark night.

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	4. Chapter 4

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"What the...? Oh nasty!"

By the sound of things the kid was up and pretty grossed out. First aid wasn't his forte, not unless one counted him being the primary reason a being needed it, but Groot on the other hand...he was handy to have around if a bit unconventional. Groot had made a hammock of vines for the kid to get some shut eye in, and somewhere between boosting to orbit and getting out of the system sneaky like he also got to smearing a whole mess of sap or something over all the kid's cuts, gashes and scrapes. It was enough to leave a being wanting to puke, but microgravity was no place for that.

"I am Groot..." Looking hurt by how his efforts had been received, Groot turned to Rocket with imploring eyes.

"I'm busy!" Rocket snarled.

Life support and the bare minimum in tracking was all he could risk until he was sure the Shi'ar weren't following them, after that it was time to put parsecs between them. That was then, now he was plotting a dicey course through the accretion disk of wreckage around a nameless moon, or at least word had it there hadn't been anyone one around to name it after the fighting had died down. The place had pirate, ravager, scavenger and outlaw written all over it.

"Whoa..." Jubilee gasped, her voice awed and quiet.

"You think this is something? I should take ya to see Knowhere." Rocket added, having his share of good and bad memories of the place that left him torn over how to rate the place.

Out in the wreckage of that long ago battle loomed the mostly intact wreck of a behemoth class warship, stripped bare of anything salvageable before being scuttled. Vacuum tight and structurally sound, it might not be the severed head of celestial being, but at least it kept the hard radiation off a beings back. It didn't hurt that he knew a bar that served a mean cocktail of chemicals that tripped all the switches.

"I get the feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

"Kansas, I thought they called it New York?" Rocket questioned, catching Jubilee's reflection against the cockpit window.

She did that face Pete did when he got to talking with Drax, Humies seemed to have the dire need to relate everything to something else that only they understood.

"Rock, rock, really big fricking rock!" Jubilee yelped, pointing at it as if Rocket hadn't seen it.

Growling and cursing under his breath, Rocket banked around the tumbling chunk of moon, asteroid, or warcraft whichever the case might just be, all the while keeping one eye on his tracking systems that had the other six tagged and vectored. He could have told her about the one impact he did expect, but where was the fun in that?

"You did that on purpose!" Jubilee shrieked, peeking her head out from the cover she found with Groot.

"Maybe." Chuckling and throttling up the thrust, the derelict ship quickly ate the view, beset with barnacles of smaller ships and strange cancerous lumps of twisted metal.

"Your guy who knows a guy, is he here?"

Ask him why he was helping the kid and he couldn't say, by all rights he should have just dumped her somewhere on the rock to look for that Logan guy. Jumping into a fight with stacked odds and a slim chance of survival was Drax, doing it for a lady was Pete, but him...all he had were a few friends and out of them Groot sure as hell wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he didn't help the kid. It was a reminder of why he needed a stiff drink and just maybe a good ol' bar fight if Groot was up for it. The clock was ticking and he had to get the kid in touch with Corsair before the Shi'ar did.

"He'll be here, we got each others back. Even if I've shot him in his." Rocket said, chuckling at the memory of his meeting with the self-avowed Starlord.

Jubilee looked a bit confused but didn't ask any more stupid questions, instead choosing to curl up with Groot and leave Rocket to pilot the ship. Looking for a likely place to berth, he still had a little unfinished business to get around too. Spotting one at last, landing privileges were worked out over a tight beam of laser meant to keep eavesdroppers out. The warning about a target lock vanished with their negotiations complete, just because the old warship had been stripped bare of weapons didn't mean folks hadn't brought their own.

"Make sure you got everything, we won't be coming back." Rocket announced as the airlock cycled, waiting with his blaster ready in the universal greeting of outlaws and mercs.

A deal wasn't done until the units were transferred and the first round was bought at the bar. Somewhere between all that he still had to get the kid a translator implant, she wouldn't get too far without one. Bathed in green light telling that there was breathable atmo on the other side, the double doors rolled away to bid entry to the Whale...or so his shoddy Terran translation mod supplied. Whatever a whale was, Rocket figured the Humies would crap themselves if they ever saw the space faring beast he was thinking of.

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"...and this is why I told you to keep an eye on him!" Peter shouted.

"I did, but the vermin would have none of it!" Drax argued back just as loudly.

"You...didn't actually try to keep your eye on him, did you?" There were times Peter forgot how literal Drax and his people were, a source of many misunderstandings already.

"Don't be absurd, why would I do that when there were many handily available to be plucked them from their socket?" Drax muttered.

"Idiots..." Gamora hissed under her breath.

"Well, he's paying for the fuel, travelling half way across the quadrant to pick up his furry ass..." Peter added, the blame for who let Rocket run off to do lord knows what was a bone he could pick at another day.

The Whale was the kind of place a being went when they expected trouble, similar to Knowhere in that there was profit to be made fit only for outlaws. Salvage picked out of the accretion disk ran from hardware, software, to the down right archaeological for the misfits of academia that hoped to get on the fast track by finding something so important that the bent and broken rules could be overlooked. It was Terra Incognita and the locals liked it that way.

Given the personal fortunes on the line, the kind of desperation that drove a being to risk their life and livelihood out in the graveyard that hung like a noose around the moon, well...no one that desperate didn't come packing. The place had enough firepower to put most planetary system's navies to shame, even a galactic empire would need a real good reason to send ships inbound.

That Rocket had picked it as their rendevous spoke volumes, so whatever trouble he was bringing with him better be worth the units. Walking amongst the other beings milling about the causeway, shopping and visiting the various food carts and street vendors, Peter paused as something caught his eye.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys..."

Pausing with him, Gamora followed Peter's gaze into the crowd only to see one lady vendor leaning against her sales counter, her wares on display in more ways than one. Drawing close to the Terran to whom she owed her life, her breath was hot against his ear as she chose her words carefully.

"Just remember Peter Quill, I do not fail at ripping out a thorax...and nor will I use anything so gentle as a fork." Gamora whispered, shoving him into the milling mass of beings before following after Drax.

"That was for information, and it was one time!" Peter shouted after them, the crowd looking at him in interest as he recovered, "What? What?!"

Now of course he noticed the very sexy and sensual looking being Gamora had mistaken to be the subject of his interest, but that was just being a guy and heeding the biological imperative written into his genes, but she hadn't been the one he had been looking at. A girl, unless her species was among those confusing ones, sat at the very counter of that sexy being and he was reminded of his own strange childhood. Taking his time as he approached the counter, he had spent more than enough time waiting for Yondu or Kraglin to get back from one deal to the next at food carts just like this one.

What really drew him to the girl was the way she handled an odd little bit of tech, a slim little metallic thing with a bright and colourful screen, and what had to be tiny headphones vanishing within her ears. Finding an empty stool next to her, he caught the eye of the hostess and waited for her to finish with a patron.

"I'll have what she's having." Peter said as the lady being walked up, looking harried and hurried but still managing a smile for him, "What are you having?"

Proving that they were indeed headphones of some manner, the girl plucked one from her ear and looked up at him as if he were the alien here. Having a sidelong glance at her bit of tech that sat beside her plate, now he really was getting curious, the symbols on the screen the very same as his own walkman.

"Dunno, I was told it's not poisonous and it tastes alright, so that's good enough for me." The girl mumbled, her eyes sizing him up as looked him up and down.

"Yeah, you usually don't want to know what you're eating at a place like this, no offence intended miss." Pete added as the hostess came back with his order.

Maybe not exactly what he'd been after to fill his gut before a bar crawl around the usual watering holes he expected to find Rocket at, it wasn't bad and for the units he couldn't complain. It reminded him of street meat from home, dirt cheap and something you got to crave after a while.

"Can I?" Peter asked, gesturing to the dangling little bud that blared something almost lost to the din of the causeway.

Her boneless shrug stung of painful nostalgia, of girls who couldn't be bothered with him one way or another, back before Yondu and a boys regret over a moment that could never be taken back. If her shrug stung, what played over her headphones was a mule kick to the chest. His mother had given him the best music of the Seventies and the Eighties that she loved, but trips to the hospital with his grandfather had been Johnny Cash and Willie playing over the truck radio.

"How do you know Johnny Cash?" Pete managed to ask, struggling for breath .

"How do _you_ know Johnny Cash?!" The girl fired back just as rapidly.

"You're from Earth!" Their voices echoed as they stared at another amidst the confusion of the other dinners.

"Oh hey Quill, just the Humie I was looking for."

Tearing his gaze from the girl who had turned his world on top of itself, Peter looked down and then up to see a sight that only seemed astonishing in hindsight, Rocket sitting perched upon the shoulder of Groot who had an honest and earnest smile for him that eased away the pain stirred by the reminders of his childhood.

"Groot!" Peter cried aloud and not caring who heard him, jumping from his stool to hug him.

"I am Groot."

"Oh brother, save it for the ship." Rocket muttered, "...wait a tick, you left Drax and Gamora alone?"

"Ah shi..." Peter began, his voice drowned out by gunfire.

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	5. Chapter 5

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Ah ha ha! Never would I have thought to find myself enjoying your company as I do now! Clearly word of your redemption upon Xandar has spread only so far!" Drax gleefully shouted as he hurled a being bodily at two others.

"Oh shut up!" Gamora snarled back, tightening her hold on one attacker for support as she lashed out at another with a well placed punch to the throat.

Reputations were fickle things, a veritable coin toss of good and bad luck all depending on what came up. Drax had earned his in the bloody business of revenge fit for the so named Destroyer, but Gamora herself...hers had been forced upon her by a desperate act of survival against the machinations of Thanos. To the galaxy at large she was a murderess, a vile assassin and a wretched whore.

But to one world alone she had been given a chance at the very redemption Drax spoke of, standing against Ronan and in doing so telling her self avowed father that she would endure no more. On entering the bar the atmosphere shifted, the raucous conversation of ten fold beings dying with only the music to break the silence. It was the tense moment of a stand off, an unspoken question asked with the eyes alone as so many looked to their companions for answers.

Some looked on her and Drax as unlikely heros, the saviours of their homeworld and that of their family and friends, but too many others still knew the pain of loss that would never vanish. Opportunity had knocked for some who had greedy eyes and knew of tens of worlds who still had bounties for her, the daughter of the mad titan Thanos. One angry shout was the spark needed, an inferno of tumultuous emotions exploding in that one instant.

"I'm going to shave that rodent when we find him!" Gamora shouted without a care who heard, flexing and hearing the satisfying pop of a dislocated limb.

Throwing the screaming man away to hobble off into the teeming crowd, another warily took his place, casting a nervous look off at the fallen before meeting her gaze. This one found courage in his knife, a sleek blade that he looked to have some skill with.

"Drax?" Gamora called out, "Switch!"

Fighting back to back in the melee just so they would have one less thing to worry about, Gamora found herself facing a brute of a being in the stead of her former knife wielding opponent. His grin turned sadistic, though his eyes had something dark and lecherous in them with how the tables had turned. His stance painted him as ex-military, one that believed in making a better solider even if they had to rebuild them from scratch.

"Military grade enhancements?" Gamora asked to which the man just nodded.

Most Merc's ended up getting enhanced or modded in some way or another, why wait on a cloned transplant when a bit of off the shelf hardware filled the holes a being had in them that needed plugged? He had first blood with a thunderous punch that left her spitting ichor against the filthy floor of the watering hole, his speed and reflexes honed and sharpened by whatever battles he had fought to put an edge on the blade his military had forged him to be.

Straightening up with a deep breath, Gamora stood under his expectant gaze and saw him appraising her down to the very last unit. Smiling at him and feeling a thrill she hadn't ever known until her escape from the Kyln, she wasn't fighting for anyone other than herself and such freedom excited her.

"Not bad." Gamora spat with the blood that stained her teeth, it was a compliment given with a dismissive shrug.

His smug smile had her own growing even broader, she hated men like him. Striking fast and hard with a kick to his knee and a punch to his chest, she gave him reason to scream then stole from him the very breath he needed for it. Military grade paled in comparison to how far Thanos had gone to improve the children he had claimed as his own from the worlds he had conquered, from the families he had destroyed, all if it her dark inheritance.

"Who's next?!" Gamora shouted in challenge, for every one she sent off broken and beaten the longer it took for another to step up.

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"Just tell me he's the guy who knows the guy who knows the _you know who_ guy you told me not to ask about until we got back to the ship!" Jubilee screamed above the crowd.

"He's the guy!" Rocket promised.

Not that he was going to go telling Pete just which guy he was supposed to know, not until they had the vacuum of space between them and any eavesdroppers. Kid was hanging tight to Groot as Groot did what he did good, providing the muscle. It wasn't hard to tell just where Gamora and Drax had gotten off to, all they had to do was go against the tide of people getting the heck outta the local vicinity.

"Is it just me or do these dudes look way stoked to be rolling with you guys?" Struggling against the few vines that kept her from slipping off, Jubilee peeked past Groot's shoulder at the company they had picked up.

"Xandarians, we sort of saved their world from a psycho out to destroy it." Peter explained with a nod to their entourage.

"Seriously?!"

"Not to brag, but they were calling us the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Rubbing his eyes out of sheer frustration, Rocket wondered just what it was with Quill and code names, even the kid didn't look impressed. Actually she looked kind of shocked and kept pointing ahead as she held tight to Groot. Figuring she had been doing pretty good for her first trip off her home rock, prim Humie Jubilee was, that begged the question of just what the heck was she pointing at? Slinging his blaster across his back and clawing his way up Pete for a look, Rocket had his answer.

"Ow, ow, claws! What are you...oh..." Peter hissed in a pained breath, fighting Rocket as he tugged at his ear to direct his gaze.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not by the way, but those ain't the colours I should be seeing on this deck?"

Being the safe haven of criminals, outlaws and beings of questionable morals, the Whale didn't exactly have one local governing body as, for example, Xandar had the Nova Corps. Turf and territory were divvied up between those who could hold it, and at the first sign of anyone lacking in that skill there were always folk interested in proving they could.

"You don't happen to have anything on you for if things get real hardcore, do you?" Looking pointedly to the rather raccoon shaped being riding shotgun on his shoulder, Pete took it as a distraction from the heavily armed beings heading their way.

"I might. Hey kid, what's the worst you can do besides singed whiskers?"

"Kinda blew up a house once." Jubilee confessed.

"What!?" Peter shouted, "What do you mean you blew up a house?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"And that makes it better?! Do I even want to ask how? Because I don't need to ask Rocket why he brought you along anymore if your hobbies include blowing stuff up!"

Finding himself under the twofold glare of both Groot and the girl, Pete rolled his eyes and reminded himself that he didn't have time for silly questions, questions like how a girl probably not even old enough to date blew up a house. He had better questions to be asked, like just where Drax and Gamora were, and how long would it take them all to get back to the Milano and out of system.

"You're a dick!"

"Oh she has no idea how many times I've heard that."

"You really do have issues Quill."

It wasn't as if Pete was going to deny that, being raised by Ravagers who considered him a sometimes food did that to a kid. Twenty six years later, and he was a product of his environment, which just happened to include the worst parts of the galaxy. Except of course for his nagging conscience that proved the case for Nature over Nurture that had him feeling a little bad for how he had just treated the girl.

"Okay, I admit maybe that was a little..."

"Paf!"

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	6. Chapter 6

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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It was far too quiet now that the fighting was over, altogether too many opponents had stolen from him in the furious melee to leave him feeling denied. Settling down at the bar that cautiously set about resuming business, Drax found a bottle of spirits set before him.

"It's on the house." The proprietor announced upon catching Drax's eye.

"No it's not."

"I mean ya don't gotta pay, damn literalist." The man muttered, setting to task sweeping the broken glass and mess that had been made of his bar.

Enjoying a swig and relishing the burn, Drax watched as Gamora finished her last foe with a finesse he had come to appreciate. Smirking as his eyes caught hers, she almost looked embarrassed to be caught enjoying herself. Giving the fallen a kick as if to exorcise her annoyance at having been caught, Gamora stalked up to the bar and snatched the bottle from him.

"We should find Peter, who knows what he's gotten up to. Then the rodent." Gamora remarked, surveying the aftermath of her reputation.

"I also find myself growing bored." Drax admitted as he took back the bottle for a hearty draught that nearly finished it.

Glaring at Drax as if that hadn't been what she had meant, Gamora snatched the it back to finish the job in one long swallow. Rolling his neck and thinking it was time to set to task finding their compatriots, a sudden shock set the bottles and glassware rattling from the safety of their blast door clad shelves. Again the bar shook and dispelled any doubt that something was amiss.

Not alone in his curiosity, a Xandarian beat Drax to the door only to regret it as a group of beings dove for cover from the causeway beyond. Deafening noise and blinding light stole away the world, shyly returning as a ringing in his ears and watery eyes.

"If that's Rocket..." Gamora growled, looking furious as she waited for Drax to recover.

The air stunk of ozone and smoke as they raced out into the chaos that had erupted in the wake of the explosion. For the fleeing mass that sought cover, just as many rallied for battle. Gunfire peppered the air, silenced with another blast that shook the decking of the old ship.

Spotting one he did not expect to see, Groot roared a challenge as Rocket returned fire. Laughing again and feeling his boredom cured, Drax charged ahead with Gamora hot on his heels. Diving for cover as high velocity tungsten chased after him, he found the last of his friends huddled with a girl.

"We heard an explosion." Drax announced, eagerly looking for a new foe to fight.

"Rocket's new friend here." Peter replied with a nod to the girl.

"What happened to your face?" Gamora asked upon seeing Peter.

"_Also_ because of Rocket's new friend."

"I said I was sorry."

Her dress was curious to him, yet her eyes seemed no stranger to bloodshed and that was something Drax felt conflicted about. Revenge had been his reason to live for so long that it seemed natural to live in a world filled with violence, but her delicate features reminded him too much of his own daughter and the awful fate that had befallen her. Kneeling before her, he offered her a smile as she gaped at him.

"Dude is ripped!" The child gasped.

"You are mistaken, this blood is not mine." Drax swore in hopes to reassure her that he was fine.

"She did that?" Gamora interrupted.

"I didn't mean to." The child sullenly mumbled.

"You said Paf, Rocket told me what that means!" Peter shot back with an accusing finger pointed at her.

"I just meant to flash bang your face, not fry it. You just got me way pissed dude."

Listening to the child and Peter argue and bicker with another, for as much as he had been told that the girl was a friend of Rocket, Drax found himself with a very different assumption as to explain her sudden appearance.

"Her speech is strange and confusing. She is not your illegitimate offspring, is she?"

"No!" Wearily rubbing his eyes, Peter looked back to the girl who glared at him in return.

"We need to get out of here before this breaks out into an all out turf war." Gamora's expression was one that would brook no argument.

"Funny how it looks like you're not the only one with that idea, amazing how explosions tend to do that!"

"Well excuse me if I got an allergy to getting shot! Rocket thought it was cool."

"He would." Gamora found herself to be echoed by Peter, though Drax fixedly looked at the girl to appraise her.

"Do you have any more of the incendiary you used that so impressed Rocket?" Drax asked, his eyes alight with the thrill of a good fight.

"No!" Peter snapped as at the first hint of temptation in the child's eyes.

"I'm running low on ammo up here!" Rocket roared from beyond the cover that shielded them.

"Ah dammit! Fine, here's the plan."

"You have a plan?" Gamora asked.

"Are we really going through this again, seriously? Right now?! Drax, you babysit our little fire starter here. We're heading back to the Milano and I'll take point. Gamora, turn anyone who gets past me into a pretzel."

"What's a pretzel?" Gamora asked in the pause that Peter likely had left for that very question.

"It's a bit of dough all twisted up into a shape like this," The child began, drawing in the air to help her explanation, "Then you throw some salt on it and bake it and it's like the next best thing to some street meat."

"It sounds painful, are you sure you would rather not have Gamora guard the girl while I do the twisting?" Drax offered.

"No! No changing roles! Not at least until I've taught you Rock, Paper, Scissors! Ready? On three! One, two..."

"I am Groot?"

"Fine! You can bend them into pretzels if you want, but don't shish kebab anyone!"

"What's a shish kebab?"

"Oh forget this, three!"

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"They're shooting Groot!" Crying out in horror, Jubilee struggled against the strong arms that held her.

Running through the crazy amount of Star Trek aliens that were making a beeline for anywhere but the deck they were on, Jubilee let her powers loose, fuelled by her twisted and tattered grasp on reality. It was too big and too real and just too much for her to handle, clinging to one truth to keep her sane, that she had to save Scott and Jean. All she wanted was her Wolvie to come in and kick ass and make everything normal, except he was more than a world away and she didn't know just how many.

They weren't partners anymore, waking up to a cowboy hat and an empty bed had changed that. But, for all his excuses for leaving her, one thing hadn't changed. They were each others lifeline, freely giving what each other needed to get by and meet out the next day and the day after that. Pulling down on Logan's old cowboy hat and remembering how to stand on her own two feet, Jubilee looked beyond to the aliens that were lighting up her newest best bud.

"Groot, duck!" Jubilee screamed at the top of her lungs, hating that she was crying with how pissed she was.

He didn't duck, not at first, the hammering of her heart killing her for every beat he stood there protecting them. Roaring out of anger or pain, Jubilee didn't know, but Groot finally fell back and gave her the shot she needed. Letting the brim of that old cowboy hat fall down in her best impression of a gunslinger, she let them have both barrels.

One night in a dirty motel that had a guy at a counter that read her and Logan all wrong, a couple questions had been asked after far too long together. Knowing the truth in her gut, he had told her that despite it all, that it hurt every time he popped his claws. It made it easier to admit that it was just as loud and bright for her as everyone else, that she hadn't been wearing her shades all the time just because she was some fashion conscious teen.

By the time she could see again, she didn't know where she was and that wasn't exactly a bad thing. There wasn't anyone shooting at her, or Groot, or any of Rocket's friends. Truth be told it was the big guy holding her, and just like Logan, he apparently had a bit of a soft side hidden under all the scarey he projected.

"We safe?" Jubilee asked, looking about her new surroundings.

"Only as much as can be expected given our circumstance. You did well to dissuade those who had been intent on hijacking the Milano."

"Everything's shiny?"

Finding a laugh and a giggle in his confused expression, Jubilee let it shake and sooth her as she relished the comfort of his arms. She didn't fight his awkward hug, because a hug was the very thing she needed.

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"Lemme guess, she followed you home?"

Staring at Quill from his reflection in the cockpit window, Rocket wished he could just throw that into Google to see what came out, but he had better things to do just then...like piloting the Milano out of system.

"I'm gonna take that as you asking me if I went to Earth? Quick answer, yes. As for what species in their right mind names their planet Dirt, lets just say I'm starting to understand why no one's bothered to annex or conquer your rock...present company excluded Gamora."

"What's she doing here!?" Peter snapped angrily.

"I owed the kid. So since she needs to get in touch with Yondu so she can get in touch with Corsair, I figured you were the right Humie for the job."

Blessed quiet reigned the cockpit of the Milano, but like any cease fire, it was only so the enemy could reload.

"What?!"

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	7. Chapter 7

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"They're talking about me."

The big guy, Drax, glanced up from his knife sharpening to fix her with a curious look. Scooting a little closer to the table he was working at, Jubilee reached for one of his knives and tested the edge with her thumb. A whetstone was offered and accepted, joining him in the strangely soothing act after a few pointers.

"You're likely right, but tell me why you think they are talking about you?" Drax asked, spitting to wet his stone on finding it too dry.

"Well, it got really loud and then really quiet. I bet if they had a door they would have closed it."

"And this is something you are accustomed to, people talking about you where they close the door?"

Finding it hard to work up the spit to wet her stone with how dry her mouth had gone, people talking about her behind closed doors was something she was indeed used to. From one foster family to the next, she just hadn't fit in with the little family they had been playing at. Running away made a lot of sense after listening to one too many arguments had in hushed voices behind closed doors.

A surprisingly gentle, callused hand took her own, enveloped it in a welcome warmth. Drax looked like he could throw down with Logan and give the ol' Canucklehead a run for his money, he obviously liked to get into knife fighting range too. But in his eyes she saw something else was no strange too, the look of a man who had his reasons for fighting, and not because he wanted to but because he had to just to keep his ghosts quiet.

The knife was eased out of her grip, the edge tested and found to be satisfactory if his nod was anything to go by. Clutching her thumb in her balled fist, Jubilee knew just how sharp the edge really was, a cut too close for comfort telling her so by how much it stung.

"Mind if I play some music?" Jubilee asked.

The problem with how quiet it was, was that it left her with too much free time to think, and all that thinking had her worrying. She was scared for Scott and Jean, and that wrestled a sad smirk from her at the thought that they were probably just as worried about her and hoping she was safe. She couldn't even bear to think about Logan, if he came back for his hat and found the house trashed and all of them missing.

Pulling out her phone and looking for something, anything to keep her mind off of all her worries, she wanted something loud and angry to banish those dark thoughts.

"Walkman?" Drax inquired, looking genuinely intrigued.

"What? No, iPhone."

"Quill has taught me to use his stereo, I have come to appreciate your worlds music even if it is rife with meaningless metaphor. I could show it to you."

"Thanks, but Wolvie taught me ya don't touch the stereo without asking, that and the driver gets to pick what plays. Rules of the road he called 'em. But check it, bluetooth speaker."

He didn't look like he understood so much as he was waiting for her to explain it to him, she had to do that with Logan from time to time too. Setting up beside his knives, she didn't know what kind of music Peter played, but she thought Drax might like her mix.

"Get ready for some Shinedown to start off with." Jubilee said as she hit play, eagerly watching Drax for his impression of some of her favourite tunes.

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"Corsair?! The Shi'ar Empire's Public Enemy Number One! That Corsair?" Shouting and not giving a damn who heard him, Peter couldn't believe Rocket.

"What is the girl's connection to Corsair?" Gamora asked.

"She was staying with his kid, at least that's what I got from the whole _Ward of the Child of Corsair_ spiel they broadcast while chasing us down. And here I thought my translation mod was a shoddy piece of turd."

"Ward? What is she, Robin?" Realizing they wouldn't get the reference, Peter shook his head and looked back to the depths of his ship where Drax was keeping an eye on the girl.

"What of Corsair's child?" Gamora bore a weary expression of patience as Peter interrupted Rocket with his nonsensical question.

"Victim of a snatch and grab the likes that me and Groot tried to do to our favourite Humie here. Apparently, and this is just what the kid told me, but apparently his wife is a genuine mind reader. So she told the kid to run and that's what we did, like there's anything else to do when ya got Shi'ar blowing up your bedroom."

Staring out into the void, Peter tried to ignore the nagging of his conscience. They had a clean slate, and it was a full-time job keeping his crew from getting back on the Nova Corps radar. That wasn't to say they had gone straight, there were enough jobs out there in the grey to keep them out of orange jumpsuits or running into the red as far as expenses went.

But what Rocket was asking was crazy, getting in touch with Yondu was reckless enough without adding in Corsair and the Shi'ar. A gentle touch at the small of his back was the only warning that Gamora was up to playing dirty, her hand finding his as she joined him in his survey of the infinite vastness of the Universe that lay beyond the cockpit window of the Milano.

"You're not gonna give me the losers speech are you?" Peter quietly asked as he enjoyed the warmth building between them.

"It was a good speech, a little rough around the edges, but it had heart. A lot like a man whose lead I've chosen to follow."

Laughing a little at that confession, he didn't see himself as a leader, just a guy trying to get from one day to the next. He couldn't even imagine where he'd be if Yondu hadn't shown up that night, the world he'd thought had been so big sure had gotten smaller since then.

"We weren't given a chance, raised by Ravagers and a mad Titan. You'd deny that girl hers?"

"No, no I won't." Smirking as he admired her reflection, she was too good at playing him, right from the first moment they met.

Knowing that Gamora would see through any of his moves that had worked on all the other girls of the galaxy, Peter entwined his fingers in hers and enjoyed the company. Rocket became background noise at the helm of the Milano, easy enough to ignore and imagine that they were alone. The only thing that could make the moment better would have been some Redbone playing from somewhere in the depths of the ship.

"What is that awful noise?" Gamora asked as the first harsh notes carried from below deck.

"Oh she better not be touching my stereo!"

Leaving Rocket at the helm, Peter lead the way taking the steps two at a time. The girl was close enough to where he'd left her and Drax, except that she looked to be teaching him how to headbang. This wasn't music as he knew it, not even from the vague memories of hair metal he had.

"Quill! This is music that I can truly enjoy despite the nonsense they sing of! Come, let us rock out together as the child is teaching me!" Drax bellowed in greeting.

It wasn't a ghetto blaster making all the noise, in fact it wasn't that much larger than his own Walkman. It was the girl's strange bit of tech and something that had him wondering just else she had in that knapsack of hers. Yet it was the words on the tip of his tongue that had Peter fall short, because they were words he wouldn't dare speak.

"Rock on Drax, rock on. I'll be at the helm." Peter cried above the noise, throwing the devil horns up that were too eagerly mimicked by both Drax and the girl.

He wasn't about to become his grandfather by telling them to turn down the noise, not now, not ever. Leaving Gamora to pick her camp after noticing her head bobbing to the hard beats, at least Groot seemed to appreciate real music if how dismayed and confused he looked was anything to go by.

"Remind me to install a door..." Peter muttered as he fell into a chair beside Rocket.

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"Where are you going?"

Looking up from her rummaging of her knapsack, Jubilee saw Captain Kirk about an equal distance from the door she was headed for.

"Bathroom?"

"Well, you can wait until I'm finished in there."

Now, granted she was thoroughly enjoying the sight of Captain Kirk shirtless and looking ready for a shower if the towel wasn't a fashion statement, but she wasn't keen on waiting until he was done making a mess in there to have her turn.

"No can do." Jubilee firmly stated, taking a couple of determined steps forward in their little stand off.

Peter looked a bit surprised to get called out, word from Drax had it that the was his ship after all, but it was all old hat to her by now. Logan had been a lone wolf when she met him, so she knew how to play the game.

"Where's the fire, pipsqueak?"

Running away taught her what was important in life, or at least what a person needed to get through from one day to the next.

"Uh, other than seriously needing a shower, I gotta take care of business. Ya know, like feminine hygiene business?" Jubilee said with a shrug and rummage of her knapsack to find a maxi pad, "...yeah, that usually shut Wolvie up pretty quick too."

His towel was offered without a word more, and after a sniff Jubilee slung it over her neck and skipped into the bathroom. Waiting until she couldn't hear the slap of his bare feet against the deck, all her bravado was forgotten now that she was alone. She didn't have to be strong anymore, she was safe for the moment so she could cry all the tears she'd been holding onto.

Curling up in the warmth of the towel and treating it like a blanket, lessons from before she had run came back to her. Letting the shower run on cold, she was now truly alone and anyone who knocked at the door could be ignored because she didn't hear them.

"Quill asked me to..."

Gamora froze after barging into the bathroom with a bundle of clothes, the one thing Jubilee hadn't remembered was to lock the door. Wondering just how pitiful she looked huddled up against a bulkhead in a towel, with red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks, Jubilee found the floor plenty interesting in that moment.

Hearing a click that told of the door being shut, the spray of the shower quieted the hammering of her heart that would have told how embarrassed she was to be caught crying.

"A change of clothes for after your shower. I'll get yours washed."

The bundle of clothes was set between them, a stolen glance finding Gamora looking nearly as embarrassed as she felt just then. It didn't fit her image of the woman, the one who gave Peter and Drax so much shit as they ran for the ship.

"Seriously retro..." Jubilee mumbled, opening up the found tee for a look, "Where'd you get this?"

"It was what he was wearing the night Yondu abducted him."

Struggling against the punch to the gut those words had been, Jubilee gulped and gasped for breath. The T-shirt literally had summer camp written all over it, right along with a pair of Levis. Puzzle pieces came together, from the pop music that Groot liked, to the Walkman and tape deck she'd seen.

"...I just thought he was a space hipster or something." Jubilee whispered, finding the courage to slowly strip bare of her clothes that had seen her through her flight from Earth.

Running the water hot and hoping it would last as long enough to chase the chill that had crept into her bones, Jubilee stepped into the spray and washed clean her tear-stained cheeks. The door closed with a bundle of clothes taken in the place of another, yet in the tee that sat on the counter she found out she wasn't so alone after all.

"Yeah, but I'm going back, I'm gonna find Chris and we're gonna go save Scott and Jean."

It'd all be a story to tell Wolvie once he came for his hat, that and the ass kicking he was due for leaving her all alone. Except he hadn't, and just maybe she'd thank him for that now that she realized it.

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	8. Chapter 8

Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Morning on the Milano was relative to the observer, dawn would be a long time coming given that the nearest star lingered a good lightyear away. Ship time had been set to Xandar local, if it had been a VCR it'd still be blinking twelve double zero. Rubbing his eyes and wondering if he should brother shaving, Peter watched his little freeloader stumble in.

"Toaster." Jubilee whimpered, resting her cheek against the kitchenette counter for a quick nap.

"No point, outta bread." Any civilization that figured out fire usually had an analog for bread, toast itself an inevitable invention that spurred on new ways of making it which followed the technological curve.

"Pop Tarts." Jubilee whined.

Now there was something he hadn't thought about in decades, something from the mind of a man who wondered why they had to stop at marshmallows in cereal instead of giving kids what they really wanted for breakfast, dessert.

"Don't got them either."

Making an incoherent noise fuelled from a mix of hunger and fatigue, Jubilee dug through her knapsack to throw something unbelievable on the counter, a box of Pop Tarts. Never could he have dreamed such a flavour would exist, S'mores, a holy trinity of chocolate, marshmallow and icing that didn't even bother pretending to be a nutritious breakfast.

"What else you got in that bag?"

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"What the fu...?" Jubilee asked, biting her tongue out of a habit ingrained in her from her stay with the Summers.

"Eggs." Quill said around a mouthful of his pop tart.

"Nah dude, eggs ain't supposed to look like that."

Innocent wasn't exactly something either of the humans present were good at, and Drax wasn't buying whatever they were selling as he looked their way from his cooking. Ignoring them to get back to his eggs, a flick of his wrist had the gelatinous blobs bouncing around the skillet.

"Do they taste like eggs?" Jubilee found her curiosity getting the better of her, breaking a rule she'd learned in Madripoor.

"No chicken ever laid them if that's what you're asking."

Cold, hard units in the currency favoured by the galaxy in general sat in a nice, neat little pile. Opposite them lay a bag of candies that could have been bought at most any grocery store, though exclusive to one world among millions.

"...fine, five hundred for the M&amp;Ms, but you're taking me shopping asap."

"Deal." Peter readily agreed, pushing across the units to claim his prize.

"You better not be swindling her." Gamora warned as she took a seat at the table.

"Hey, I just paid five hundred units for candy."

"Imbecile." Drax muttered from the stove.

"Alright Quill, I got a course plotted to Xandar. You just need to sweet talk Yondu into meeting us there." Sliding down the ladder from the cockpit, Rocket jumped up to his usual seat that sat a bit higher than the rest.

"Why Xandar?" Joining them at the table, Drax seasoned his not-quite-eggs with a shake of some spice picked from the few that loitered in the middle of the table.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because Yondu has a fleet and we don't?!"

"You hope the threat of the Nova Corps will keep him from killing you on sight, yes?" Drax seemed to considering this plan, approving of it with emphatic nod as he chewed on his eggs.

"Whoa, back up. Why's he wanna kill you?" Jubilee waited for an answer, staring at Rocket in particular who chuckled contentedly to himself.

"I may have doublecrossed him." Quill admitted.

"Twice." Gamora ignored the pointed look Peter had for her, snapping off a piece of his Pop Tart for a taste.

"Only after I finally got on board with your plan to give the Nova Corps the stone!"

"Disgusting." Gamora spat.

"Hey!"

"I meant whatever this filth is that you're eating."

"More for us." Jubilee mumbled, slipping from her seat to set another pair of Pop Tarts toasting.

"I am Groot."

Late for breakfast and sporting a bedhead of sprouts and vines that had seen him through the night, Groot leaned in for a curious peek at whatever was getting toasted.

"Sorry bud, Pop Tarts are a people food. Help yourself to the last Evian I got in my knapsack."

Stalking over to the table and hefting up her knapsack, Groot found the bottle of water along with a few other items that had gotten caught up in his questing grasp. A flash of yellow peeked out that caught Peter's eye, getting to his feet for a better look.

"What's this?" Quill asked, holding up a figurine of some sort.

"It's my Pikachu." Jubilee playfully mimicked the way the electric rodent spoke from the television show she remembered.

"Nothing sentimental about it?" Shaking her head even as her eyes trailed to unclaimed units on the table, Peter followed Jubilee's gaze.

"Well, I'm not going to Yondu empty handed. This just might buy me enough time to say what I gotta say to him."

"Which is?" Gamora asked, snapping off another piece of Pop Tart to nibble at against her better judgement.

"I got between here and Xandar to figure that out."

"So...I guess that means we got time for me to introduce you guys to Firefly?" Jubilee asked, nibbling on a fresh from the toaster tart.

Her smile only grew brighter with how baffled they all looked, going for one last rummage of her mostly empty knapsack to fish out a rugged and rough laptop.

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End file.
